Mask of Compassion

I hosted 105 trick or treaters by 7:15 pm. After running out of all our organic low sugar items and raiding our camping stash of nut bars, I was exhausted by the feeding frenzy. Apparently there was a “post” on social media indicating our neighborhood offered lots of Halloween goodies.

I was feeling overwhelmed until there appeared at our front door a little girl dressed in a red fairy outfit and barely big enough to climb the one step on our porch. She knocked very lightly and when I opened the door she just looked up with that wide-eyed gaze to which I referred in my last post. My heart melted as she lifted her little softball sized plastic pumpkin. I dropped in a pack of sesame cookies. She looked at me like she wasn’t sure what was going on and her mom, standing a few feet away, told her to say thank you. The little girl remained at the door for awhile then walked toward her mommy and turned around to whisper a “thanks you.”

This little girl remains in my mind as a potent reminder of our original innocence, the quality of mind that freshly experiences a moment. But she also evokes a few prayers. I pray that we all work together to make the world safer and saner for her and all children. I pray that we use social media more skillfully—not just to encourage greed and selfie-awareness. I pray that we wear masks dedicated to compassionate service rather than to shore up our illusory ego.

I am amused to think of this crazy Vajrayana tradition and the wild affect of the the deity/archetypes. Every time we do our formal practice, we merge with a mask of enlightened intention and then dissolve it all, offering every last molecule of our momentary existence to be of benefit to others. It is time to Buddha up—now!